Melandri, Laverty pleased with strong test

15 September 2011

Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty have declared themselves pleased with what will potentially be their final World Superbike test with Yamaha.

Though the manufacturer will curtail its WSBK involvement at the end of this season, Melandri and Laverty were out on track for Yamaha at Misano to set them up for the final rounds of the year, as well as help Pirelli develop its 2012 rubber.

Setting the fastest time on both days, Melandri was pleased with his performance having 'struggled' at the same circuit earlier this year.

"We've just completed two very positive days testing. I had a particularly tough race weekend here in June so we tried various new settings over the last two days and found positive results all around. We made progress with the engine brake which I had been struggling with during the season and hopefully we made a step in the right direction which will help in the remaining three races also.

“We spent a significant part of yesterday working with Pirelli mainly on new compound solutions for the 2012 season. Overall, it went really well. We worked very hard but made improvements and were fast and consistent throughout the two days."

Laverty, who shared the second fastest time with Carlos Checa at the end of the second day, was also happy with his pace, claiming to have made a 'step in the right direction'.

"We got a lot of work done over the last two days testing. It's possibly the best test we have done so far this season. The first day we worked mainly with Pirelli on trying solutions for next year which should be useful. In the remainder of yesterday and then again today we tried a variety of different settings and gathered plenty of useful data.

“We discovered some interesting things about the geometry of the bike which should help me improve my turning and will be a benefit to me in the last three rounds of this season. We definitely made a big step in the right direction and I'm quite pleased with the two days overall."